Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. Sells 60,381 Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ)

Key Points

• Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. reduced its stake in Verizon Communications by 14.1%, now holding 366,370 shares valued at approximately $16.6 million.
• Analysts have recently raised their price targets for Verizon Communications, with Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo increasing targets to $48.00 and $43.00, respectively, yet maintaining an "equal weight" rating.
• Verizon reported strong quarterly earnings of $1.22 per share, exceeding estimates, with revenue of $34.50 billion, a 5.2% year-over-year increase.

Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. decreased its position in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - Free Report) by 14.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 366,370 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock after selling 60,381 shares during the period. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc.'s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $16,619,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of VZ. Costello Asset Management INC grew its holdings in Verizon Communications by 242.0% during the 1st quarter. Costello Asset Management INC now owns 36,833 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $1,671,000 after acquiring an additional 26,063 shares during the last quarter. Encompass More Asset Management bought a new position in Verizon Communications in the 1st quarter valued at $219,000. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC raised its position in shares of Verizon Communications by 171.0% during the first quarter. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC now owns 122,352 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock worth $5,550,000 after acquiring an additional 77,207 shares during the last quarter. Plan Group Financial LLC boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 50.8% in the first quarter. Plan Group Financial LLC now owns 40,703 shares of the cell phone carrier's stock valued at $1,846,000 after acquiring an additional 13,711 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wills Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Verizon Communications during the 1st quarter worth about $2,852,000. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on VZ. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Tigress Financial raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded Verizon Communications from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $48.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $47.35.

Verizon Communications Price Performance

Shares of VZ opened at $42.96 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $42.74 and a 200 day simple moving average of $42.75. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 52-week low of $37.58 and a 52-week high of $47.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $181.15 billion, a PE ratio of 10.01, a P/E/G ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.36.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The cell phone carrier reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.03. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 13.28% and a return on equity of 19.61%. The firm had revenue of $34.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.47 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.15 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th were paid a $0.6775 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.3%. Verizon Communications's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 63.17%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 9,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.10, for a total value of $396,900.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 10,008 shares in the company, valued at $441,352.80. The trade was a 47.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Verizon Communications

Verizon Communications Inc, through its subsidiaries, engages in the provision of communications, technology, information, and entertainment products and services to consumers, businesses, and governmental entities worldwide. It operates in two segments, Verizon Consumer Group (Consumer) and Verizon Business Group (Business).

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